In addition to doing normal Daily, Weekly, and Month-End, Backups, it is important to do backups before running any invasive file utilities or installing software updates. Here are some examples of how some things, not initially been considered a big deal, can end-up becoming critical issues:
- The administrator starts a file rebuild on the Focus Service Call File. Just after starting this, another user tries to access the Service Call File.. This causes the file rebuild to fail, corrupting the index, and damaging the Service Call file, rendering it unusable. If a backup had been made, just prior to running the utility, it would mean a recovery time of only a few minutes. ALL of the data could be recovered.
- In Payroll, a user runs the Year End Closing process twice within the first quarter of the new year, having processed several payrolls during this time period both before an after the running of the utility. This deletes vital Quarterly Payroll History, that is required for doing Quarterly Reports and W2’s for the new year. This also throws-off the data synchronization of all of the Payroll files. The only proper recovery, requires going back to a previous complete Payroll backup. Not having a current backup could mean the difference between hours, or possibly days of auditing and re-entry work.
- An administrator starts a CounterPoint upgrade to a new version, in the morning, before the store is due to open. Being in a hurry, no backup was done. The pre-upgrade and post-upgrade instructions were not followed. In this particular upgrade, there were multiple file structure changes that required running utilities that were not run. When users start running the software, it crashes with various file structure incompatibility errors. Not having a backup prior to starting this could mean a loss of a day (or days) worth of data, depending on the age of the backup available.
- A rule of thumb is to do the update the previous night after the store closes. This allows enough time to test the changes and make corrections prior to the store opening on the next day. Make sure you know how to test the changes, or have someone from the user group help.
If you have any question of concerns regarding anything like the above, contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department first to confirm anything that you are not sure of.